Difference between cruise with Carnival and someone else?

right now some amazing deals coming from Carnival

for various cruises

However when i look at other companies like Princess etc.

The prices are higher.

please tell me what differences would I see in doing a cruise with another cruise line over Carnival?

The only cruise line i sailed with before was Louis Cruises out of Greece.

thanks

A big difference is that Princess allows a TA to discount the price. Carnival does not. We usually save 15% off the Princess website price plus some OBC.

We found the service to be much better on Princess.

Princess is a very different atmosphere than Carnival. It's widely considered more upscale and more sedate. Carnival tends to attract a younger demographic and lots and lots of kids. I find the food and service on Princess to be better.

There are a lot of choices when cruising. Different cruise lines have their own personality. A big consideration is the ship. Newer cost more than older. Do your research, ask questions and read the boards.

If you've only sailed Louis, you will find Carnival to be a luxury line - although I thought the food and service on Louis to be top notch. If you are looking to get your feet wet in mainline cruising, Carnival is an excellent place to start. EM

Carnival is "the Fun Ship". The passengers are younger and less sophisticated.

Wow dorisis - we are neither young nor unsophisticated and we sail Carnival. We're actually well educated grandparents - who knew? :rolleyes:

We've sailed Princess, Royal and Carnival. Each cruise line has something to offer. For our Princess sailings - we found the food to be the best and outstanding service, Royal's ships had the best decor, good food & service, and believe it or not the most drinking on board, and Carnival had the largest staterooms, is usually (not always) least expensive and had the most families with kids.

Keep in mind that each sailing will be different - I'm sure the drunks we encountered on Royal don't sail every week, just like there will be more families on any sailing if it is school vacation, more college kids during spring break.

We sail for the itinerary - so we start by looking at the time we want to go and find the ship with the best ports for us. We like port intensive, but if we have a few sea days, we spend more time on the ship and that will impact our choice (it may make sense to pay more when you'll spend more time on the ship). And some lines just have a better reputation for certain itineraries than others, like HAL or Princess have a good reputation for Alaska cruises.

right now some amazing deals coming from Carnival

for various cruises

 

However when i look at other companies like Princess etc.

 

The prices are higher.

 

please tell me what differences would I see in doing a cruise with another cruise line over Carnival?

 

The only cruise line i sailed with before was Louis Cruises out of Greece.

thanks

Entertainment options on Carnival are pretty sad compared to other lines,

Food is subjective but we found Carnival just ok. Prices may be lower. You get what you pay for.

Carnival is lower in price for a variety of reasons. One is that it is sort of your entry cruise line into cruising but the other reason that their approach is to have a low price to get you onto the ship but then they will take in a lot of onboard revenue through purchases that their passengers make on board the ship.

Keith

right now some amazing deals coming from Carnival

for various cruises

 

However when i look at other companies like Princess etc.

 

The prices are higher.

 

please tell me what differences would I see in doing a cruise with another cruise line over Carnival?

 

The only cruise line i sailed with before was Louis Cruises out of Greece.

thanks

The old saying certainly applies. Pay less - get less.

Let's compare with hotels. if you stay at, Red Roof Inn, the price will be lower than, say, the J W Marriott, even though both will give you a bed to sleep in and something for breakfast; the Four Seasons will be even more expensive. Why stay at the JW or even the Four Seasons? It's just a lot nicer; better decor, better bed, better shower, better breakfast, and more exclusive -- the higher price automatically filters out a lot of people you might prefer not to be around. Is it worth it? Depends on your preferences, your budget, and your needs at the moment.

Take cars. You can buy a new car for 13 k or so, or as much as 100k or the sky's the limit. Is a more expensive car worth more? It all depends on the extras and how you value those extras, and your budget.

Like everything else, cruise lines run a range of quality and price. There are low, mid, high, and ultra high scale cruise lines. It's easy to evaluate price; evaluating quality is up to you and your preferences. Most people would probably put Carnival somewhere in the low to mid scale range. What is different? Probably hundreds of things, across the board -- space, food, amenities, fellow passengers, noise, tranquility, activities, service, you name it. Everything is likely to be a little "less" than if you pay more somewhere else. That's how economics works -- they charge less and provide less, in order to make the same profit as the other guy. They have no magic formula to give you the same thing but charge less. The choice is yours.

It's best to try it for yourself. I've heard less-than-good stories on most of the mass market cruiselines along with "never again" on lines I continue to cruise. I'm glad I tried them for myself to form my own opinion.

Does Carnival have the best food at sea? No. Can I always find something I like to eat? Yes. Does Carnival have good waterslides? Yup, for adults too. Entertainment on all these days to me is just "eh", but entertaining nonetheless. Carnival's cabins are larger than NCL, Princess, RC, etc. I had gotten used to Carnival's balcony cabin then sailed I think Princess next and was surprised how the size of a standard cabin varied. But didn't stop me from continuing to cruise Princess, which has lovely, elegant ships. Carnival's are more chrome and color. But I don't really care about that.

Yet I explored other lines some more. I think they all have good features and I've not had a bad cruise yet. And I've truly enjoyed the variety of decor, layouts, etc.

Why not try Carnival to see if cruising is for you? It'll at least show you what a ship has to offer. I think all the lines offer a good vacation. :)

It's best to form your own opinions through your experiences. We have tried Carnival, Princess, and Royal Caribbean. Each cruise line has their own personality and atmosphere. In the future, we have plans to try Holland America and Celebrity.

While we enjoyed each of our cruises, some were better than others, for a variety of reasons, which have already been posted by others here.

Now that we are more experienced in cruising, we consider the itinerary more important than the ship or cruise line.

The exception in our case is our upcoming cruise in April. In this instance, the ship is the destination . . . it's the Allure of the Seas.

Our first cruise was on Princess and we loved it so we took a lot more Princess cruises. We have also sailed on Cunard where we loved the dance floor and the more formal atmosphere. We also love HAL and had a wonderful tim on the one Celebrity cruise we have taken.

We did NOT like NCL and will not rebook with them no matter how inexpensive. Since everything we have read and heard makes Carnival seem more like NCl we have never booked a Carnival cruise either, but, who know, maybe we would love it.

You may as well try it for yourself, nobody else is going to be able to predict how you will feel about it.

Wow dorisis - we are neither young nor unsophisticated and we sail Carnival. We're actually well educated grandparents - who knew? :rolleyes:

 

We've sailed Princess, Royal and Carnival. Each cruise line has something to offer. For our Princess sailings - we found the food to be the best and outstanding service, Royal's ships had the best decor, good food & service, and believe it or not the most drinking on board, and Carnival had the largest staterooms, is usually (not always) least expensive and had the most families with kids.

 

Keep in mind that each sailing will be different - I'm sure the drunks we encountered on Royal don't sail every week, just like there will be more families on any sailing if it is school vacation, more college kids during spring break.

 

We sail for the itinerary - so we start by looking at the time we want to go and find the ship with the best ports for us. We like port intensive, but if we have a few sea days, we spend more time on the ship and that will impact our choice (it may make sense to pay more when you'll spend more time on the ship). And some lines just have a better reputation for certain itineraries than others, like HAL or Princess have a good reputation for Alaska cruises.

"Families with kids" Ergo young and unsophisticated.

Carnival is "the Fun Ship". The passengers are younger and less sophisticated.

When I was a TA , not too long ago either , Carnival reminded us the they carry more Seniors than any other cruise line.

I believe that is still true or close to it.

Maybe those Seniors are just less sophisticated ? :D

Agreed , Carnival will be close to Luxury after sailing Louis Cruises.

"Families with kids" Ergo young and unsophisticated.

What an ignorant statement to make. To make the assumption that if you are a family with kids you are unsophisticated? Hope I never run into you on a cruise.

What an ignorant statement to make. To make the assumption that if you are a family with kids you are unsophisticated? Hope I never run into you on a cruise.

The "kids" in the "families with kids" category are, by definition, unsophisticated. It is truly ignorant to fail to recognize that fact. Additionally, the parents of those kids are likely to choose a cruising environment suitable for said kids, ie: less sophisticated. You should think before going judgemental on a reasonable post.

Now, back to OP's theme: Carnival's prices are towards the low end because they seek to serve that market segment. Their food and service is acceptable, while not perhaps at the level expected on HAL, Celebrity or Princess, and certainly superior to the lowest cost provider: NCL. Additionally, it is possible that Carnival is doing a bit of discounting to offset the effects of bad publicity arising from recent well-publicized equipment problems.

Carnival tries to appeal to everyone at a rock bottom price while some other lines try to appeal to a specific demographic of traveler who aren't as wallet conscious.

For many, Carnival will be a good cruise. For others, it would be he'll on earth. It just depends on what you are looking for in a cruise.

If you want non-stop action and to be constantly surrounded by tons of people that represent a pretty wide cross section, and a budget friendly experience, Carnival might be a good choice. If you want a quieter or more refined atmosphere with a lot of space per passenger, gourmet food, and typically a higher income demographic of well traveled fellow guests, you would be better served on a different line.

You should think before going judgemental on a reasonable post.

 

 

Right back at you. To assume that people with children are unsophisticated is just silly.

For many, Carnival will be a good cruise. For others, it would be hell on earth.

:D Sorry ... but that's funny ^ above ^ ! :D

LuLu

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Right back at you. To assume that people with children are unsophisticated is just silly.

I did not say people with children were unsophisticated; I said the children were unsophisticated - and that the parents of those children were "... likely to choose a cruising environment suitable for said kids, ie: less sophisticated,"

There was no assumption of lack of sophistication in the parents. On the other hand, it seems appropriate to assume that either your reading comprehension level is sub par, or that you are simply having a bad day, or, thirdly, you are "just silly".

:confused: Why does Carnival seem to assume its passenger base can't read? :confused:

We have Fun Times!

Yet, we are constantly blasted with loud announcements about 'What's going on'. :rolleyes:

LuLu

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I did not say people with children were unsophisticated; I said the children were unsophisticated - and that the parents of those children were "... likely to choose a cruising environment suitable for said kids, ie: less sophisticated,"

 

There was no assumption of lack of sophistication in the parents. On the other hand, it seems appropriate to assume that either your reading comprehension level is sub par, or that you are simply having a bad day, or, thirdly, you are "just silly".

I agree that any ship that caters to families will have a less sophisticated atmosphere than one that doesn't cater to them. This isn't just Carnival, but pretty much any of the mass market lines. It's pretty hard to offer a sophisticated environment when the pools are full of kids, the shows are family oriented, and the next table over is in the process of ordering the third round of Shirley Temples with flashing ice cubes to go with their dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets.

:confused: Why does Carnival seem to assume its passenger base can't read? :confused:

 

We have Fun Times!

 

Yet, we are constantly blasted with loud announcements about 'What's going on'. :rolleyes:

 

LuLu

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It's not just Carnival. RCCL and to a slightly lesser extent DCL do it as we'll. the only way to get away from it it to cruise a luxury line.

It's not just Carnival. RCCL and to a slightly lesser extent DCL do it as we'll. the only way to get away from it it to cruise a luxury line.

Way way way less on Princess, HAL, and Celebrity which are all mass market cruise lines. :)

Hear you on RCCL ... not as bad as Carnival but still a bit too many.

LuLu

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